By Michel Outridge

YULISSE Klass is a resident of Calcutta Village,East Coast Demerara, who is always on the go and is constantly finding things to do.

The 63-year-old is very able-bodied and in her spare time, she would venture down to the backlands where she would cut branches off the many coconut trees there and strip them to make pointer brooms.

Klass stated that depending on her time, she would make two or more pointer brooms which she would walk around and sell right in the village.

The mother of two has lived all her life in Calcutta, where she raised two grown sons and has four grandchildren.

The pensioner related that she never had to seek employment, but her task in the home was the housewife, where she kept things in order and made sure there were hot meals on the stove.

Her husband still works; he is an attendant at Mahaicony Hospital.

Klass stated that life in Calcutta is good and the people there are hardworking folk, who would toil from dawn to dusk to make a living.

The elderly woman also tends to her kitchen garden daily and still has time to enjoy her grandchildren and have a walkabout in the village for some chit chat.

The Pepperpot Magazine also met Ivor Hetemeyer, who rears meat birds these days.

When the team visited, he was in the process of plucking the chickens for an order that was going out of town.

Hetemeyer said he is known as the “chicken man” and the villagers are normal country people, who go about their routine of hard work daily.

He reported that some people are employed on farms and they are people who wake up early and start their day.

The 70-year-old stated that he spent his younger days working with the Guyana Bureau of Statistics collecting household data for surveys.

The pensioner added that he was involved in sports, was a goalkeeper, was into boxing, cycling and is said to be a very good cook as well.

But these days, Hetemeyer is taking things easily and is just tending to his chickens and pigs and still has time for family gatherings.

On the social side of things, he related that country folk know how to enjoy themselves and they partake in beverages at the shops and other ‘watering holes’ in the community.

Hetemeyer added that they have a refurbished community centre with a playfield and there are two discos.

The pensioner stated that life in Calcutta is generally good and it is a place of hard-working people, who earn from livestock-rearing and farming.

He related that Calcutta is a village that rear pigs on a large scale, because almost every house has a few pigs and it is usually sold to wholesalers and others.

The elderly gentleman told the team that they have seen their share of development with street lights, proper drainage and irrigation, among other things.